Why the A-Rod may never retrieve his A-game

Players Under the Microscope / Barry Millns / 21 August 2007 / Leave a Comment

Sky Sports' Barry Millns looks at where it's all gone wrong for Andy Roddick and which players you want to be on when facing him

If Andy Roddick hung up his racket right now he could look back with pride on more than 400 match wins, 23 titles including a US Open, an end of season world No.1 ranking and prize money earnings of nearly $13 million. But approaching his 25th birthday the American is at a crossroads in his game and the signs suggest that unless he can make better use of the weapons at his disposal his best days are behind him.

Some of that certainly has to do with the strength of the opposition at the highest level. He has not beaten a player ranked in the top three for two years. Yet while the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and now Novak Djokovic have been establishing themselves as the world's best, Roddick is also more susceptible to lower ranked opponents who refuse to be intimidated by his power and use their strengths better than he does.

Although Roddick remains the world's fastest server and possesses a fierce forehand, he has never been a natural volleyer, preferring instead to play from the back of the court rather than venture to the net. Invariably that means his most hostile shot, if returned deeply, is followed by a far more defensive one as he often retreats at least a couple of metres behind the baseline to continue the point rather than stepping in to press his attack further.

Consequently, that enables opponents with better baseline games to take the initiative away from him. The diminutive Spaniard David Ferrer did exactly that last week in the Cincinnati Masters, dashing Roddick's title defence 7-6, 6-4 in the third round.

"When I am retrieving, I'm going to get out-retrieved by people who do it regularly and do it better," Roddick admitted afterwards. "I just didn't do anything that I've been working on. I was standing too far back. I wasn't imposing myself, and I was giving away free points. It's like trying to knock a guy out from five feet away. It's probably not going to happen."

Not surprisingly his coach Jimmy Connors was as unhappy about Roddick's performance as he was. But it is not a new phenomenon in his game and while Roddick is clearly aware of it, maintaining a more aggressive approach throughout his matches is something he still seems to struggle with mentally, perseverance giving way at times to petulant frustration and loss of focus.

When Roddick first teamed up with Connors a year ago, there was a marked up-turn in his performances, not least when he made the 2006 US Open final and tested Federer, winning as many points at the net over four sets as the Swiss did. But come this year's Australian Open semi-final between them that figure had diminished significantly for Roddick and he won only six games.

Yet it is not just Federer or Ferrer who know how to get the better of him. Nadal, Djokovic, and Andy Murray - three other players with very different styles, all have winning records against the leading American because at their best they are far better all-court players than he is, have greater touch and variety and are tactically more astute. All five also feature in the top 10 of players winning the highest percentage of return games this season while Roddick languishes in 64th place.

One cannot deny that Roddick is highly competitive and very good at picking himself up positively after every knock-out blow. But you start to wonder if he will ever be able to adapt his style sufficiently to avoid them better in the future.